December 14. 2017

A disaster, be it hurricane, tornado, earthquake, wildfire, engenders a response. This is not as easy as it might seem.

Any response requires fuel, for emergency vehicles, utility crews, road clearing, telecommunication repairs. But if power is out, that it is not easy. Gas stations, while perhaps undamaged, need power for the pumps to dispense fuel. No power, no fuel. How about emergency generators, to provide power to provide fuel? They need fuel to generate power to dispense fuel. No fuel, no generators, no fuel for emergency vehicles.

That was the situation here right after Hurricane Maria. Power was out over the entire island. Things came pretty much to a standstill. Dock workers did not have the fuel to get to the ports to off load the ships, some carrying fuel. In the states, adjoining areas would send supplies over the highways to the areas in need. That is not easy here. As our fearless President pointed out, Puerto Rico is in the middle of a big ocean.

But, in the true capitalist spirit, where some see difficulties, others see opportunities. That is playing out in port right now, in view from our balcony. I had wondered about some of the equipment and activities I had been observing.

View of port activities from our balcony.

The ship and tanker trucks were here when I arrived, on November 15. The white rectangular trailers were as well. During the course of a day, several tanker trucks would fill up from the ship and head off to somewhere on the island. There were far fewer of the white trailers then; their numbers have been gradually increasing over the past few weeks.

I also noticed a parking lot dedicated to pick up trucks, which entered and left at all hours of the day and night. Mini busses brought people here around the clock, presumably from their billets. The workers got into their trucks and rode off to somewhere on the island. Each truck appeared to have a small generator in its bed, as well as other tools.

I did a little more research and discovered the white trailers were in fact diesel generators, big enough to provide power for a sizeable building. They run on diesel fuel; when operating at full load, they need to be refueled every day or two. So it began to make a bit of sense. The generators were hauled to places on the island that needed electricity – a hospital, clinic, gas station, whatever. The fuel trucks refueled them every day of two. The pick up trucks probably carried technicians to the various sites to maintain the big generators. All in all, a big operation.

The activity seems to have slowed down a bit since I’ve been here, which suggests to me that fewer and fewer generators are needed. That also explains why the white trailers have increased in number – generators are brought back from sites as power is restored.

It turns out that there are specialized companies designed to provide these specialized services. The logo on the pick up trucks I see tells me the company is Cat5 Resources, with headquarters in Nederland, Texas, and a Caribbean office in Bayamon, close to San Juan. They, according to their website, are a young company, having been in business now for a little over four years. Cat5 offers a variety of services, generator management, emergency fuel supplies, cell tower management and repair – pretty much anything one can think of. I suspect, but I don’t know, that they contract with businesses before any storm and provide emergency generators and fuel to those customers as needed. If that is the case, it seems to me our building management might want to contact them.

There are other companies here as well. A Signal National Disaster Team truck has been parked outside of the still-closed Caribe Hilton since I’ve been here. According to their website, they specialize in restoration of properties that have suffered fire and water damages. They are a mainland US company. Their website does not mention a Caribbean presence. Perhaps the Hilton chain has them on some kind of retainer.

I don’t know the extent of the damages at the Caribe Hilton or at the Condado Plaza, also closed since I’ve been here. I wonder if winds blew out some windows on the ocean side with consequent damages.

I would have to guess these are good examples of growth industries. If I had a spare thousand bucks or so, I’d probably invest in them. Of course, we could start an investment club. I’d be happy to manage your money. Just let me know.